How To Prevent Yourself From Burning Out – Review

I saw a tweet yesterday that said, “is there a such thing as being too passionate?” I’ve wondered the same thing a few times. Sometimes I feel like I’m too passionate, go too hard, invest too much but I’m starting to realize that my amount of passion isn’t the problem – it’s who/what I choose to reveal that amount of passion to. Burning yourself out happens, it’s almost inevitable. However, you can reduce how often it happens by protecting your passion and being more selective about who/what you share it with. Self-love is more than liking yourself when you look in the mirror. It’s also knowing you’re not for everything/everyone and when you try to be, you wear yourself thin. Kadisha Phillips gave us 9 steps on how to prevent ourselves from burning out in her post on Blavity.

Take time to breathe.

Work smarter, not harder.

Set and track goals.

Learn that perfection is unattainable.

Switch it up!

Start doing retrospectives; look back on old work and figure out what you can improve.

Put your phone down.

Find a good stress reliever.

Focus on yourself.

Although her steps are very helpful for anyone who needs to read them, I’d like to make this more specific to the people who tend to dive into things heart first. If you’re a creative and a freelancer, being burnt out is almost apart of your routine. We’re constantly creating, thinking of new things to create, networking with other creatives, etc. When you don’t give yourself any other option but to be successful, you tend to choose time to work on your craft over time to sleep and time to eat but you have to always remember that your health is always most important. You remain healthy by following Kadisha’s 9 steps. However, I’d like to add #10.

Let’s be honest, that’s how much you’re investing when you put your heart into everything you do. However, when you’re passionate and something/someone doesn’t reciprocate that same kind of fire, you become drained. After you do Kadisha’s first step, take time to sit back and analyze who/what’s draining you of your energy.